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Yankees right-hander Joba Chamberlain provided an update Saturday on his ongoing recovery from Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery. It sounds like everything is going smoothly: Chamberlain had the procedure in June and will be looking to return to live action around late May. He registered a 2.83 ERA and 24/7 K/BB ratio in 28 2/3 innings…

Christmas isn’t typically a busy day in the baseball world, so you probably won’t be hearing much from us over the next several hours. Enjoy whatever it is you enjoy, and maybe check in with our friends at ProBasketballTalk as they cover the season-opening marathon of NBA games. Happy Holidays!

From Dan Hayes of the North County Times comes word that the Padres are planning to re-engage young center fielder Cameron Maybin early next month about a contract extension. The two sides first broached the topic of a long-term deal in September, but decided to table talks until the winter. And now it’s time to get…

The A’s put up a $19 million posting fee last winter for the right to negotiate exclusively with Japanese righty Hisashi Iwakuma. The two sides failed to work out a contract, and that money was returned to Oakland after the 30-day negotiating period. But now that Iwakuma is a free agent, Billy Beane and Co.…

We heard last month that Edwin Encarnacion was going to play some left field during winter ball. Well, the experiment is officially underway. According to a report in the Toronto Sun, Encarnacion has played left field in four out of his first five games with Aguilas Cibaenas in the Dominican Winter League. Encarnacion proved to…

The fire sale is apparently back on. While the White Sox signed John Danks to a five-year, $65 million contract extension earlier this week, Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com reported yesterday that they remain open to trading Gavin Floyd. Floyd could be an attractive target for many teams because he is owed $7 million next season…

Some pretty significant news to pass along on this Christmas Eve afternoon. According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, “all signs and top MLB sources” say that the Athletics will be granted permission by February to move to San Jose. Of course, the A’s efforts to move have been stonewalled since 2009 so that a…

Under normal circumstances, Javier Vazquez would do pretty well in this weak free agent market for starting pitchers. The 35-year-old right-hander was awful over the first two and a half months this past season, but finished with a 1.92 ERA and 115/19 K/BB ratio over 126 2/3 innings in his final 19 starts. Only Cliff…

We already know Jorge Posada isn’t returning to the Yankees, but he hasn’t dismissed the possibility of continuing his career elsewhere. With that in mind, Javier Maymi of ESPNDeportes.com hears (link in Spanish) that the division-rival Rays are interested in the 40-year-old. Maymi confirmed the information with Posada’s father, who said he has also had…

Footage of Yorvit Torrealba‘s attack on home plate umpire Dario Rivero, Jr. in the Venezuelan Winter League spread like wildfire last night, so naturally it didn’t take long for word to reach the Rangers. Rangers general manager Jon Daniels told Drew Davison of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he is aware of the incident and…

We’ve heard plenty of speculation that the Nationals could emerge as a suitor for free agent first baseman Prince Fielder, but general manager Mike Rizzo is doing his best to downplay the situation. The Nationals held a conference call earlier today to discuss the Gio Gonzalez deal. Amanda Comak of the Washington Times reports that…

The Reds held a conference call earlier this afternoon to introduce Sean Marshall, who was acquired from the Cubs for Travis Wood, Dave Sappelt and Ronald Torreyes. Marshall has primarily pitched in a set-up role over the past two seasons, but Jon Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that Reds general manager Walt Jocketty didn’t…

Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba isn’t exactly in the “Christmas spirit.” After striking out while playing with Leones del Caracas in the Venezuelan Winter League earlier today, the veteran backstop blew off some steam by attacking home plate umpire Dario Rivero, Jr. It’s unclear what sort of penalty he’ll pay in the VWL, but Licey manager Jose…

Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak told Bernie Miklasz today that he envisions Carlos Beltran batting second in the Cardinals lineup. So the presumption is: 1. Furcal 2. Beltran 3. Holliday 4. Berkman 5. Freese 6. Molina And then whatnot and so forth and the pitcher most likely ninth because Tony La Russa isn’t around to…

USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweeted his Hall of Fame ballot earlier today. It’s somewhat unusual as far as these things go: Barry Larkin, Rafael Palmeiro, Fred McGriff, Jack Morris and Alan Trammell. Nightengale then said that he votes for PED guys because we’ll never know who did and who didn’t use. That explains his vote for Rafael…

As expected the Red Sox officially announced Bob McClure as their new pitching coach and also added Alex Ochoa as first base coach, which … well, it makes me feel really, really old. It’s one thing when players from your childhood start getting coaching jobs, but it’s another thing when prospects from your childhood start…

This is fun. Adam Gross from the Metsonline blog talked to a financial industry source to get an assessment of the merits of those minority stakes the Mets are trying to sell off. Click through for the detailed comments of the financial guy. In the meantime, here is the upshot: He basically responded saying that…

UPDATE: It’s a done deal. ========== It’s been a couple days since the Cubs and Reds reportedly agreed to a deal that would send Sean Marshall from Chicago to Cincinnati for Travis Wood and two unnamed prospects, and now Keith Law of ESPN.com says the trade will be announced at some point today. Law also…

Every time there has been talk of a trade involving the Marlins, Logan Morrison‘s name comes up. It should probably stop coming up, though, because the Marlins consider him — and Mike Stanton, duh — off limits. All of that can be found in a decent “state of the Marlins trade chits” article by Joe…

Joe Saunders is being linked to a handful of teams now that he’s a free agent, but the veteran left-hander never wanted to hit the open market in the first place. Saunders told Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic that he “really wanted to come back” to the Diamondbacks, but the team “wanted to go…